Alva's Vishwa Nudisiri Virasat from December 19

The mega literary-cultural event, Alva’s Vishwa Nudisiri Virasat 2013 will be held from December 19 to 22 at Vidyagiri in Moodbidri. On the occasion of Virasat entering the 20th year and Nudisiri celebrating its 10th anniversary, both the programmes will be clubbed together to make it global this time, said Alva’s Education Foundation Chairman Dr M Mohan Alva.

Briefing mediapersons about the preparatory plans for the event on Thursday, Alva said the organisers expect the participation of minimum five lakh literary and cultural enthusiasts in the four day event. Approximately, 40,000 delegates from across the nation and abroad and over 5,000 artistes will be a part of the literary and cultural extravaganza.

The programme which will begin at 5 am will go on till midnight everyday. Various literary sessions will be held as a part of Alva’s Nudisiri under the theme ‘Kannada Manassu: Andu-Indu-Mundu’ (Kannada Mind: Then-Now-Future), during the day, while the evenings will be reserved for cultural programmes by renowned national and international artistes, to mark the Virasat, Dr Alva said.

Multiple stages

Speaking about the venues for the programme, he said literary activities will take place in four stages and cultural programmes will take place in 10 stages simultaneously. If the main sessions of Nudisiri are organised in Ratnakaravarni stage, the other three stages will host sessions on agriculture, folklore and discussions for students, respectively. As far as Virasat is concerned, renowned international artistes will perform in the main stage, while other artistes will stage dance, yakshagana, folk, theatre and other performances in small stages.

Other attractions of the Alva’s Vishwa Nudisiri Virasat are ‘Kannada samskruthi grama’ (a village model representing the Kannada culture), Alva’s Chitrasiri which will be participated by1,000 artistes, book exhibition with over 500 stalls and other exhibitions. The exhibitions will be open from December 18 to 25.

Awards

Responding to a query on the Nudisiri and Virasat awards conferred on the achievers, Mohan Alva said unlike earlier, this time Alva’s Nudisiri awards will be conferred upon achievers who have contributed for the development of Kannada, in state, national and international levels. Apart from the awards,10 achievers from Karnataka who are in their late 90s or have completed the 100th year will be honoured. Alva’s Virasat award which used to be conferred upon a classical artiste in the past, will be confered upon two artistes this time, for their contributions in the field of classical art form and folklore.

“We have estimated the expenditure for organising the programme at Rs 20 crore. A delegation comprising of local MLAs and ministers will meet the chief minister next week and request to sanction special grant for organising the programme. We will also demand the government to sanction extra grants to local panchayats and town municipal for the development of infrastructure as the event will witness a large number of people arriving at Moodbidri. A request will also be placed before the government to ask various departments to extend their co-operation to us for the event ,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said that interested participants can register themselves by sending a Demand Draft of Rs 100 in favour of Alva’s Nudisiri Virasat as registration fee and participate in the event.